Rayhall Ranked Top Up & Coming Driver, Plans To Race At Thunder

Thursday, May 12, 2011

The 2011 Thursday Thunder season at Atlanta Motor Speedway will feature a number of young, up and coming drivers with aspirations of one day racing in NASCAR. This summer, a driver considered to be one of racing's top future stars will be competing on Atlanta Motor Speedway's quarter-mile "Thunder Ring."

Winston's Sean Rayhall, who won the multiple championships a year ago including a Thursday Thunder title, has been ranked as the top future star of racing by a Web site, Driver Database (http://www.driverdb.com/future-racing-stars/). Rayhall's ranking at the top of the list is based off of his 48 career victories in 107 races. His total number of wins ranks him ahead of a slew of notable drivers which includes two current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers – Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne.

Seven of those victories came last summer at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as Rayhall won seven Thursday Thunder feature events out of the 10 of which he entered.

Rayhall's currently competing in the USAR Pro Cup Series for Kirk May Racing, but plans to compete in most of AMS' Thursday Thunder events except for a few which conflict with his Pro Cup schedule.

"We're going to run as much as possible," Rayhall said. "We're going to run Thursday Thunder weekly, but if any Pro Cup races conflict, I've got prior obligations."

Although he's racing in a series outside of Legends cars, the impact of the cars on his racing career isn't lost on Rayhall. His 2010 season also included the season championship of Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Georgia Legends state championship.

"Legends cars are the base of everything, it forms what kind of driver you are, it forms how good you are," Rayhall said. "If you can drive a Legends car fast, you can get in everything and do well. I like to get in the Legend cars as much as possible."

Thursday Thunder at Atlanta Motor Speedway begins June 2. Adult tickets are $6 and children ages six to 11 are just $2, while ages five and under are admitted free of charge.

To test drive your own Legends machine, or for more information about Legends racing, call Legends of Georgia director Dwight Pilgram at (770) 707-2977 or visit www.legendsofga.com. For more information on Atlanta Motor Speedway events, including Thursday Thunder, visitwww.atlantamotorspeedway.com.